....We’re serious
The problems facing Ghana’s qualification to the World Cup may be hydra-headed. Sports journalist Evans Owusu looks at the coaching dimension and spells out why he thinks the FA must dance to a Sankofa tune in the matter of two persons:

There’s one main wish for Ghanaian soccer fans. “Get the Black Stars qualify to the World Cup.” When current FA boss Ben Koufie took office in 2001, he’d tied that goal of the country to the 2006 edition in Germany, the Korea-Japan 2002 show already a miss. The FA’s engagement of Yugoslav Milan Zivadinovic in mid-2002 was to set in motion a process that would have evolved Ghana a towering force in football in four years and so, not just qualify for the global soccer summit but also do well. Three months on, Zi Milan vapourised into thin air leaving the nation with another headache of looking for a fitting tactician who’ll do the nation one piece of honour of taking the Black Stars to Germany. The countdown to the Deutschland had meanwhile started, slashing the five-year grace period, counting from when Koufie’s FA took charge, to three. It’s about time we get serious, with the countdown getting lower every day.

But that’s what we seem not to be doing! Between the sector ministry (the Ministry of Youth and Sports- MOYS) and Koufie’s FA is a tango on whether the option for the Yugoslav’s replacement should be local or foreign brain. That, really, should not be the stake and either party must verily appreciate this. Ghanaians are indeed hurt at the Black Stars’ persistent lack of performance at the World Cup qualifying stages. They want results. That quest alone should be the hallmark for the choice of a coach for the senior national team. Really does it not matter whether results come via a local or expatriate hand and, obviously, a healthy result would justify any commitment that is made.

The desire for prompt action on this, with a sure tendency for success, makes fresh the exploits of two coaches who’d variously endeared themselves to the soccer fraternity in Ghana. German Burkhard Ziese and local bred Jones Attuquayefio. Incidentally, the pair makes easier the ministry and the FA’s task of sorting themselves out either for a local or foreign commitment.

Burkhard is remembered for bringing the smiles back to Ghana football in 1992 after nearly a decade wandering in the wilderness. After the ‘Debacle of Bouake’ in 1984 when Ghana as African champions were booted out of the Cup of Nations at the preliminary stage, the nation had not qualified to any of the editions. Gradually but persistently, qualifying to the tournament was becoming an Achilles heel.

When Burkhard arrived he took the bull by the horn. No entertaining of player

indiscipline or player lateness to training. He would mark the attendance register on the training pitch and discharge prompt disciplinary charges. Burkhard will absolutely entertain no interference from any section of officialdom. He was interpreted as not recognising his employers but he cared least of that than results on the turf.

And when callers wished their idols, Shamo Quaye of blessed memory and Joe Debrah counted among his best set of 18 players, Burkhard would not dance to the tune. Granted that these two players were the most gifted talents of the two most glamorous clubs, Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oak, who draw among them greater than half the population of the country as supporters, Burkhard must had treaded dangerously. He was, all the same, blunt on who he considered a good choice of material.

Burkhard managed to get all the set of professional players whom he required for international engagements; the likes of Abedi Pele, Tony Yeboah, Tony Baffoe, Prince ‘Polley’ Opoku, Stanley Aborah and Ali Ibrahim he capably roped, regularly, to help the Black Stars’ cause. Burkhard carved pride for any player given the chance to don the national jersey contrary to the detestation that pertained prior to his arrival.

These were the factors Burkhard regarded to be his winning ways and he was not let down. Although he was replaced before the Cup of Nations, he wrote his name indelibly by successfully qualifying the nation to Senegal 92 when still with a game in hand, and having enabled the Black Stars beat the Super Eagles for the first time in many years.

If the exploits of Burkhard Ziese are washed from memory by time, ‘Sir’ Jones Attuquayefio’s should not. At club level in the year 2000 his exploits with Hearts of Oak won him the Africa’s best coach in a selection that also lined up expatriate coaches operating on the continent. Jones was winner of the Champions League and Super Cup, going all the way from the preliminary stages to the finals without losing a match. Hearts, his club then, won all high-rated titles in the domestic scene. He’d perhaps have advertised himself stronger if fate had allowed that year’s World Club soccer to occur.

Having demonstrated a winning character Jones ascended the technical directorship of the Black Stars after the exit of Italian Guiseppe Dossena. But perhaps, his appointment was not well tailored and he ran into problems with the authorities, leading to his eventual removal. But that was after he’d bravely let players’ egos and official interference tumble before him. Having been let down on two occasions in the call-ups he made to the national team, he decided to build his own team, against all odds including pressure from officialdom. Jones’ team, infact drew 0-0 with Nigeria and won 3-0 against Lesotho. The strong character of Jones, coupled with his continental achievements stands him tall on the domestic front.

So far, Jones and Burkhard have justified themselves, in their earlier romance, that the Black Stars coaching job is something they have the guts for. How they handled matters during their tenure gives a conviction that they would provide results given the opportunity.

When the national coaching job was advertised, twelve coaches filed to be allowed the opportunity to handle the Stars job. The list includes the Ghanaians E.K. Afranie, Mohammed Polo, Abdul Razak, Nana Kwaku Agyemang and James Adjei. The foreign components are Burkhard Ziese (Germany), Letord Christian (France), Desaeyere Rene (Belgium), Manuel Gomes Goncalves (Portugal), Ronald Duncan (Scotland) and Leushunis (Holland). Four, out of the lot, have been shortlisted for consideration.

On the short-list, Burkhard’s name features, unlike that of Jones. But Jones’ absence from the list of applicants is understood given the circumstances in which his exit from the job was shrouded. That is not to say he’s lost bite for the job. Rather he’d need a kind of approach from the authorities which would demonstrate an accordance of the necessary respect and appreciation for his coaching role. Regarding Burkhard, his continuous pursuance of the job that shot him to limelight in Africa, is suggestive of his level of dedication and commitment.

The argument for Jones Attuquayefio or Burkhard Ziese is not to say those that have put in applications are not cut for the job. With other applicants however, it will be another experiment. Jones and Burkhard had contrarily, well advertised themselves already of what they can do. And, as the stakes are, Ghanaians can’t go for another two-year adventurous treading. Visibly, this attitude of frequent introduction of new faces to the job is among the big banes that robbed the country of international laurels. It’s about time we’re seen learning and acting differently. We definitely must be getting serious in effecting the right decisions if our want is nothing but a 2006 World Cup appearance.